So, the NHL owners are almost certainly going to impose another lockout.

But, the AHL will be ready to go in October.

The Milwaukee Admirals will open the season October 12th at Grand Rapids. The home schedule at the BMO Harris Bradley Center starts the following week.

If the NHL players are, indeed, locked out, several players will join their respective team’s AHL affiliates. By and large, players on an entry-level deal will be added to AHL rosters, strengthening the league and allowing fans to see proven, young NHL talent. The Admirals will add forwards Gabriel Bourque and Craig Smith along with defensemen Ryan Ellis and Roman Josi.

The forwards we’ll see in training camp are:
Daniel Bang, Taylor Beck, Andre Bouvet-Morrissette, Patrick Cehlin, Kevin Henderson, Jani Lajunen, Michael Latta, Jack MacClellan, Chris Mueller, Juuso Puustinen, Ben Ryan, Josh Shalla, Mark Van Guilder, Austin Watson

Defensemen:
Taylor Aronson, Victor Bartley, Anthony Bitetto, Mattias Ekholm, Jeff Foss Joonas Jarvinen, Mike Moore, Charles-Olivier Roussel, Scott Valentine

Goalies:
Magnus Hellberg, Zoltan Hetenyi, Jeremy Smith

Nashville Asst. GM Paul Fenton indicated on the last Milwaukee Admirals Center Ice (next one Sept. 25 on Sportsradio 1250, WSSP) that he was finished putting the team together. If that’s the case, the afore-mentioned 30 players will be in town in just a few weeks. Fenton said that if there is a lockout, players will not report to Nashville…they will report to Milwaukee.

Of course, other players may attend on tryouts but the players listed above have the best chance of playing with the Admirals at the beginning of the 2012-2013 season.